Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 17, Number 4, 1 April 2000 — Maka' s Cafe a family success story in tke heart of Waimea [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Maka' s Cafe a family success story in tke heart of Waimea

By C a i t r I o n a Kearns IN THE Waimea Center, just off Māmalahoa Highway, a big blue and white banner signaling Maha's Cafē hangs boldly in the wind above the entrance. The restaurant is located in the historic Spencer House built in 1852 that also houses a real estate office, whieh diners must cross to access the dining room. Antiques, red palaka napkins, lauhala placemats, fresh flowers and a treasured, mismatched assortment of ehina fill the cozy country interior, making for a friendly, welcoming atmosphere. "I wanted to keep it small. The whole amhianee of the restaurant is about eoming into our home. I like intimacy and our tables are close enough that people start talking to eaeh other," Maha Kraan, the owner and eook at Maha's Cafē, explained her eoneepī for the restaurant. Actually, Krann inherited the idea for the restaurant ffom Patty and Bill Cook who originally had planned to open the restaurant back in 1995. Instead they handed it over to Krann and helped her get started with the preliminary publicity. "We took it from there to where we are today. 1 ean never express how mueh I appreciated everything they did for our cafē. And we eonhnue to support eaeh other today," explained Krann. Krann runs the restaurant with her two sons, Patrick and Pono, who have a reputation for entertaining customers with aloha and jokes. She started the restau-

rant partly because she wanted to build a business for Patrick to take over. Krann, an adoring mother, said of her boys, "They ean banter and ean get away with jokes and sarcasm with customers. Just because we're very small." Krann's business savvy has worked in tandem with her clear sense of what she is trying to accomplish with the restaurant. She joyfully recalled finding a list of her goals written down some years ago. "I was housecleaning recently and eame across a list I wrote when I was 38 years old, whieh included to have my own plaee by 45. It eame true. And has worked out mueh better than I ever anticipated," she said. She credits her aeeomplishments partly to her prior experience in the restaurant business and also to the expert advice she has received from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and Alu Like. She also has mentors in the food and beverage industry on the Big Island, wr>«3s«i i I

Lanee and Miriam Hamasaki, who have managed their own wholesale bakery in Hilo for the past 20 years. Noel Fujimoto, OHA's loan officer in Hilo, who helped Krann initially, eontinues to support her ideas I and give her advice. "He

will tell you straight if you have a good idea, or if you are blowing bubbles, as he has to present your case to OHA. If he believes in you, he'll take you to the limit. Every time he's in Waimea he passes by and we talk," she explained. Krann successfully applied for an OHA revolving loan to cover personal funds she invested in the restaurant. "The loan was for $24,000, but when I actually added everything up I had invested $32,000 in the restaurant. I also went to OHA's entrepreneur classes. At the classes I learned there are things that you need

when you open a business and there are things that you want. My stove on the front porch is an 'I want,'" she said, referring to an art deco, 1930s green and white enamel gas stove on the front porch, a rustic addition to the family amhianee. Her loan is now nearly repaid in full. "We are paying double payments this year and will pay it off by October," she explained. Had she not been lucky, Krann said, she wou!d have had serious problems with the restaurant. "The restaurant would not have lasted six months had it not been for the great business it was doing," she commented. But her cooking is what keeps everyone coming back for more. The menu has not changed in five years, and it includes delicious sandwiches of what she calls her weird eomhinations, some topped with her special ginger vinaigrette and liliko'i salsa. She added, "Not only is the food Hawaiian but the ingredients are from Waimea, from loeal growers, mom and pop operations." Maha's Cafē is rated among the top 1 1 restaurants in Hawai'i in Arthur Frommer's Hawai'i 2000 Travel Guide. E 'ai kākou! ■ '

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Maha Kraan with her two sons, Pono and Patrick

Maha Kraan in the dining room at Maha's Cafe phoīo: caitriona kearns